FRANKFORT, Ky. — With the introduction of legislation that would prohibit children under 18 from working in most areas of tobacco production, a conversation within the industry has begun to clarify what legislation might mean to producers.

Current law does place some age restrictions on those working in ag jobs, none of which pertain to a farmer’s children – something family farmers want to remain in any new regulations.

Tobacco organizations have come out in support of new regulations. The Council for Burley Tobacco (CBT) offered its support to a mandatory age for those hired to work in tobacco. Its board of directors passed a resolution that stated: “We do not condone the hiring of anyone under the age of 16 for work in tobacco anywhere in the world.”

The Tobacco Growers Assoc. of North Carolina (TGANC) has also issued a statement, clarifying its policy. Executive Vice President Graham Boyd said it is important to stay ahead of the issues being created by the report from the Human Rights Watch. That report included interviews with children who had worked in the tobacco fields, with stories of harsh work including laboring in trash bags to avoid sickness from wet tobacco.

“The latest attempt by this group is to prohibit anyone under 18 to be on the farm, and to urge the Obama administration to put in regulatory controls. So we wanted to get ahead of it and declare that it’s not an issue,” he said.

“We clarified and further emphasized that a large percentage of workers are from the seasonal program as guest workers. By law they cannot obtain a visa if they are under 18. That helps to prove that workers under the age of 18 on a tobacco farm is rare.”

The statement reads, in part: “TGANC does not condone the use of child labor and tobacco growers and farm labor contractors should not employ workers younger than 16 years of age for work in tobacco, even with parental permission and including instances where the parents request the work for them.”

But many tobacco farmers use family to help with production chores. The statement adds: “Children of the family farm represent a unique circumstance in regards to child labor. Their engagement or related activities in a family farming perspective is a lifestyle for them, as opposed to a vocation. Passing down strong agricultural values to the next generation is a key to ensuring productive and successful farms for the future.

“Therefore, this policy does not apply to members of a grower’s family who work or otherwise perform various tasks on their farms because of direct and specific parental supervision.”

Rod Kuegel, president of the CBT board, said he doesn’t have a problem with passing legislation that would stop those under 16 years of age from being employed in tobacco.

“But we are specific when we draw the line to not legislate what a farmer does with his family,” he said. “Legislation should be for employing people on the farm who are over 16 years old, and I endorse that. I don’t endorse Congress trying to tell us what to do with our families.”

Brian Young grew up on a tobacco farm in Trimble County, Ky. He believes the family farm invokes strong work ethics and keeps intact a sense of tradition. He said from what he has read concerning new child labor legislation, it seems to make an exemption for family.

“My dad didn’t make my brother and I go work in the tobacco patch. We wanted to. We wanted to go with Dad, we wanted to be like Dad,” he said. “We earned our new boots. We earned our used cars and trucks, and we were proud that we did.”

Young added growing up on a tobacco farm placed him in a minority that taught him a work ethic he felt others who had no farming background did not possess.

“Few of our classmates had tobacco farms at home, but those young men and women who worked alongside their parents in tobacco are all successful adults today,” he said. “Not all of them grow tobacco, but they will all tell you they learned how to work in that tobacco patch and are better for it.”

He believes this legislation is just the latest in a series of laws to make those who know nothing of farming feel better, but it will change little at their farm. “We don’t force child labor with an iron fist; it’s a privilege handed down from father to son and father to daughter for generations with love and kindness, just as God has commanded,” he said.

“This image of immigrant minors toiling in a trash bag is propaganda; it may have occurred on one farm once, or even a few, but that’s not how we do things here. We bought rain suits for every one of our H-2A workers and used them once. We avoid working in wet tobacco and only do so under extreme circumstances.”